The Gorilla Radio archive can be found at: www.Gorilla-Radio.com. G-Radio is dedicated to social justice, the environment, community, and providing a forum for people and issues not covered in State and Corporate media. Gorilla Radio airs live Thursdays between 11-12 noon Pacific Time. Airing in Victoria at 101.9FM, and featured on the internet at: http://cfuv.ca and www.pacificfreepress.com. And check out Pacific Free Press on Twitter @Paciffreepress

Sunday, November 26, 2006

PEJ News - C. L. Cook - This week on GR, What on earth are you eating? National Coordinator for the Canadian office of the Centre for Science in the Public Interest, Bill Jefferyon food labelling legislation. And; Canadian Action Party leader Connie Fogaland the impending death of Canada. And; Janine Bandcroftbringing us up to speed on some of the good things to get up to in and around Victoria this week.

If we are what we eat, then most Canadians have no idea of just what consistutes their...constitutions. Canada is experiencing a health crisis. Diabetes rates are skyrocketting for both types I and II; heart disease, and the myriad health complications associated with obesity are making ill and killing thousands of citizens every year, and yet the country is getting fatter by the day. And the forecast for future generations doesn't look good if current trends continue.

But how to address the issue?

Bill Jeffery is the National Coordinator for the Canadian office of the Centre for Science in the Public Interest, a non-profit health advocacy organization specializing in nutrition and food safety issues in Canada and the United States. The centre is a supporter of MP Tom Wappel's proposed Bill C-283, an act to amend food labelling laws in this country.

Bill Jeffery in the first half.

And; as 2006 winds down, it could come to be known as the last Canadian year. The 21st was touted by some, not so long ago, as Canada's century, but secret plans to subvert the nation and merge Canada, the U.S., and Mexico into a so-called North American Union may prove now to be the end of the line for this nation.

Connie Fogal is the leader of the Canadian Action Party, and constitutional law lawyer, who says “under agreements entered under the Liberal regime post 9/11 including the Smart Border Plan and the Security and Prosperity Partnership Agreement, Canada is now but a step away from surrendering national sovereignty and being subsumed into a so-called North American Union.Connie Fogal and the death of a nation in the second half.

And Janine Bandcroft will be here at the bottom of the hour to bring us up to speed with all that's good to do in and around Victoria this week. But first, Bill Jeffery and getting the goods on the food we eat.

G-Radio is dedicated to social justice, the environment, community, and providing a forum for people and issues not covered in the corporate media.

PEJ News - C. L. Cook - A couple of weeks past, a small group of Toronto's citizens observed a grim milestone in Canada's richest city; the marking of memorial for the 500th Canadian to die homeless on To.'s cold streets.

Out the windows of my cosy apartment, the first snows of winter fall on famously tepid Victoria. Early in the year to be sure, for a city these last years that rarely sees snow at all. It reminds; we are Canadians afterall, living in a cold country whose climate is not always friendly to human survival. It's a fact easy to forget living here on the mild Pacific coast, and living easy, with a job and the bills paid.

But my happy situation is one not shared by all living here. Unemployment, under employment, and low pay is common here, as everywhere in Canada today; common here as elsewhere too is high rent, and a lack of affordable rental housing. Combined with the abrogation of their duty to the welfare of the people by all levels of government, the current economic environment is the "perfect storm" for the poor.

Years ago, during the "good times" in the Eighties, I lived in Toronto, where winter is winter, and the working ethos is roughly summed up as: Sink or Swim! Living downtown, the homeless were a common sight; I would see them, bundles of rags, curled up fetal-like over the ventilation grates of the highrise office towers. The tower's, deserted and ablaze with light, heaters mind the comfort of the machines inside, while its excess warmth helps keep some anonymous indigent alive another night.

But not everyone has a grate. The last year I lived in Toronto, 1991, the economy was taking a decided turn south. A joker named George Bush was in the White House, monkey-wrenching Ronald Reagan's "good time" economy, and the effects were being felt, even in the 'Big Smoke.' More people were landing on the streets hard, and dying there too. The press didn't write much about it then, but someone in the city decided the growing number of fatal exposure victims should not remain unknown. Throughout the downtown area, little black crosses started appearing. There were no names attached, simply paper and paint crosses, marking the places where another homeless Canadian had died for lack of shelter.

And, it seems not so much has changed since my days there. Writing in the Toronto Star newspaper, November 14th of this year, Colin Johnson and John Brewin beg we Canadians imagine:

"Imagine an entire busload of people dying in a horrible crash, because of faulty brakes. Cries of outrage, coupled with demands for improved safety inspections, would immediately dominate our newscasts, newspapers, government legislatures and water-cooler conversations. Now try to imagine, if you can, 12 busloads of people perishing. Imagine the uproar that would provoke, especially if the victims were innocent schoolchildren. We would all be appalled at such a terrible loss of human life. We all hold up the value of every human life and deplore needless deaths ... or do we?"

Of course, they're not talking about cuddly middle-class kids perishing in school bus crashes, but the dirty and low thought of poor; inner city ghosts and bogeymen, whose lives we don't want to hear about, and whose fate is too terrible for us to contemplate. These are the "un-people," destined to be forgotten in life, as they will be too forgotten once their misery here is done.

But, there is a place where these fallen are remembered, as Johnson and Brewin record:

"Nestled behind the Eaton Centre, in front of Holy Trinity Anglican Church, is a stark, shocking memorial. It lists the names of those who have perished on the streets of Toronto for lack of housing. Many are only known as "Jane Doe" or "John Doe." Each month, new names are added to this list at a simple ceremony of remembrance. The 500th name will be added to this death toll today."

Looking out the window at the snow, I can't say how many have died for lack of shelter on Victoria's streets, but I wonder if it's not past time we venture into the streets to demand better for our society; better that we go into the halls of power in this country with petitions and placards, before going out into the elements with black paint and paper crosses. Or, do we need to see 500 more corpses, needlessly killed by inaction?

The Star's, Colin Johnson and John Brewin sum up the political situation in this country, and it is an outrage:

"Witness, as recently reported, our provincial government putting $392 million for badly needed affordable housing projects into a contingency fund, instead of into new housing construction, because of a funding dispute with the federal government.

Witness the federal government refusing to renew an excellent program which funds housing programs in Toronto and across Canada called the Supporting Community Partnerships Initiative, even as it struggles with how to dispose of billions of dollars of surplus revenues.

Witness the thousands of people in our city and region who endure terribly degrading conditions, again because of a lack of funding to repair their rundown apartments."

Looking at the snow fall from the warm side of a window is pleasant, but we can't afford to forget what living in a cold country means to those without the warmth of a home and hearth.

Chris Cook is a contributing editor to PEJ News and the Atlantic Free Press. He also hosts Gorilla Radio, a weekly public affairs program, broad/webcast from the University of Victoria, Canada. You can check out the GR Blog here.

Imagine an entire busload of people dying in a horrible crash, because of faulty brakes. Cries of outrage, coupled with demands for improved safety inspections, would immediately dominate our newscasts, newspapers, government legislatures and water-cooler conversations.

Now try to imagine, if you can, 12 busloads of people perishing. Imagine the uproar that would provoke, especially if the victims were innocent schoolchildren.

We would all be appalled at such a terrible loss of human life. We all hold up the value of every human life and deplore needless deaths ... or do we?

It's not clear that we do. Nestled behind the Eaton Centre, in front of Holy Trinity Anglican Church, is a stark, shocking memorial.

It lists the names of those who have perished on the streets of Toronto for lack of housing. Many are only known as "Jane Doe" or "John Doe."

Each month, new names are added to this list at a simple ceremony of remembrance. The 500th name will be added to this death toll today.

Five hundred lives - each as precious as yours or mine - snuffed out because of the lack of something as basic and simple as providing a roof over one's head.

As our wealthy society tolerates the growing death toll of homeless people, it's hard not to believe that some of us are deemed more valuable than others.

Political developments, and non-developments, bear sad testimony to this.

Witness, as recently reported, our provincial government putting $392 million for badly needed affordable housing projects into a contingency fund, instead of into new housing construction, because of a funding dispute with the federal government.

Witness the federal government refusing to renew an excellent program which funds housing programs in Toronto and across Canada called the Supporting Community Partnerships Initiative, even as it struggles with how to dispose of billions of dollars of surplus revenues.

Witness the thousands of people in our city and region who endure terribly degrading conditions, again because of a lack of funding to repair their rundown apartments.

The Anglican Church in the Diocese of Toronto, like other advocates for affordable housing, wants the provincial government to release the unspent funds it has for housing and to devote significant resources to housing in its next budget. If more faith communities and community partners take up this call as well, it can create powerful support leading to the policy changes so badly needed.

Yet by no means do we believe that this is only an issue for government to address. All of us need to be part of the solution.

What is God inviting us to do to meet the needs of those who spend half or more of their income on rent? About seniors inadequately housed? For parents forced to make the terrible choice between paying the rent or feeding their kids?

One of the biggest roadblocks to more affordable housing is the "Not In My Backyard" (NIMBY) attitude of hostility by local residents toward new housing developments for low-income people.

While our society recoils from blatant discrimination against people of colour, Jews, Muslims and others who have suffered from prejudice, it apparently is still acceptable to discriminate against poor people. We are actively urging Anglicans to resist this mindset. We urge you to do the same.

We also are involved in providing both permanent housing and emergency shelter for thousands of people through non-profit housing providers like LOFT Community Services and Ecuhome, and through our shelters and Out of the Cold programs. And we know our church needs to do more.

Meanwhile, the next time you're at the Eaton Centre, walk through the west exit and pause a moment outside Holy Trinity's simple homeless memorial. Pause, and think. What does it mean to you?

Blimey. You would never know he was a devious little toe-nail puller from the KGB. Or that his patron, Boris Berezovsky - not mentioned by the Daily Mail - is a gangland legend, veteran of countless contract hits. Or that his closest associate is an even scarier Chechen terrorist, Ahmed Zakayev.

Probably the nicest thing you can say about Alexander Litvinenko is that he was a raving loony, as his (hitherto unread) ravings in the Chechen press testify.

As Justin Raimondo writes, ‘the propaganda spewed out in the last couple of days is pure bunk and quite bizarre’. It’s what Justin describes as a ‘public relations tsunami, in which Litvinenko’s absurd conspiracy theory is being touted as unimpeachable fact.’ Putin did it, no doubt about that.

Berezovsky’s UK PR agency, of course, knows full well that it doesn’t take much to get xenophobic British tabloids going. You can’t pick up a Sun these days without a chiller diller scare about Romanian rippers, or Polish pimps, or Eastern European gypsies flooding in from everywhere. So the unscrupulous Pottinger fed them a large dose of Russophobia and they swallowed it whole.

Who would benefit from such a hate campaign at this time? Hmmm. It might just be the sleazy band of mobsters currently sheltering in London from corruption and murder charges in Russia. You see, on Nov 16, Russia and the UK signed a new memorandum on extradition. And Russian prosecutors interpret that as facilitating their ability to extradite Russia’s most-wanted: Berezovsky and Zakayev.

Why would the UK sign something like that? Take a tip from Yuri Mamchur. Access to Russia’s energy resources, either for foreign consumption or investment, comes at a price. He observes:

It is ironic that the oligarchs who used to buy influence abroad with oil money are now having their freedom sold for the same coin. An Old Russian proverb says, ‘The one who pays orders the music’. These days the Kremlin has enough money to make even top U.S. allies Britain and Israel “offers they can’t refuse” and can order up any music it likes.

But, if the timely murder of Litvinenko now makes Britain think twice about extraditing Berezovsky and Zakayev, Saint Sasha will have died for a good cause. Won’t he?